Digital Only Subscription
Read the digital SMART Edition of The Times-Tribune on your PC or mobile device, and have 24/7 access to breaking news, local sports, contests, and more at thetimes-tribune.com or on our mobile apps.

Digital Services
Have news alerts sent to your mobile device, read the Smart Edition sign up for daily newsletters, activate your all access, enter contests, take quizzes, download our mobile apps and see the latest e-circulars.

Article Tools

Lift the ball to the quarterback. Get your hands up and your feet moving.

Block the man in front of you.

It isn't that easy of course, and for Boston College's redshirt freshman center, there were times when it showed.

A former Dunmore star, Gaughan and his Eagles teammates will travel to Army on Saturday, looking for their second win of the season and hoping to continue a strong run of offensive play in recent weeks. Gaughan said he has had this game circled on his calendar because his uncle is running a bus trip that will bring between 50 and 60 fans to West Point to watch the game. Those who see it will notice a different player than the one who established himself as a premiere lineman in the Lackawanna Football Conference.

They won't see a 6-foot-6 tackle. They'll see a center. During those strenuous practices in the spring, Gaughan learned just how big a difference there was between the positions - not to mention, how difficult a transition it could be to go from one spot to another.

"It was brutal," Gaughan said. "Just to learn the playbook in the spring, then to get snapping the ball down with a 300-pound nose tackle in your face, it was an adjustment. It basically took all spring to get that snap down."

The end of the story is that he got it down. He got it down so well, he opened the season as the top backup to starting center Andy Gallik, a spot he still holds. In the Eagles' only win of the season, a 34-3 pasting of Maine on Sept. 8, Gaughan saw his first action as a college player, and it came at center.

But to Gaughan center never came easy. Neither did his climb up the depth chart.

Because he had to undergo knee surgery after high school, Gaughan knew he'd have to redshirt in the 2011 season. He also knew it would put a slight delay on the first transition he'd have to make.

Head coach Frank Spaziani and offensive line coach Jim Bollman wanted to move Gaughan from tackle to center last season, but because of the knee injury, he couldn't fully practice at the position until the spring. While he was out, Gaughan said he watched the rest of the Boston College centers practice, learned how the called out the defenses and made sure the rest of the line was on the same page with the blocking scheme before the snap.

"You're basically the quarterback," Gaughan learned.

When he finally got to spring practice and had his first chance to line up in a competitive environment as a center though, he learned his biggest hurdles would be mental.

First of all, he had a long climb up the depth chart, because coaches didn't have anything on which to base his play. No game tape. No practice time. No game experience. He also had to battle the idea that he might struggle a bit, whcih is something he rarely experienced while playing for coach Jack Henzes with the Bucks.

What made it all tougher: Playing center for the first time, he said, is a nervous challenge anyway.

"Especially coming from high school, because we didn't have a lot of 300-pound defensive lineman coming at us," Gaughan said. "It wasn't even if I could block the guy, though. It was, can I get the ball up? Because if I didn't do that, I knew the coaches were going to be on me."

Hard work and daily repetitions paid off after a while, of course. Gaughan estimated that, seven or eight practices into the spring, he started to become comfortable. Then, he began to make serious progress, enough that the coaching staff felt confident he could excel if he had a chance to snap in Boston College's spring game.

From there, he has been one snap away from significant playing time, and that's a long way away from a snap being what kept him away from it.

The Eagles have lost three of their first four games this season as they head into West Point, but they have shown flashes of dominance offensively.

Against Clemson last week, the Eagles amassed 420 yards of offense, and Gaughan said the team feels confident things can turn around quickly.

He hopes that turnaround starts this week, when he'll be as close to home as he can get, to show his hometown fans that center is becoming just like home to him on the football field, too.

"It will feel great," Gaughan said. "It's awesome just to see all the support from back home, from my family and friends."

Contact the writer: dcollins@timesshamrock.com

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.